1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to toothpaste dispensing fixtures in general and, in particular, to a toothpaste dispensing fixture having a roller to sequentially squeeze toothpaste from the rear of a tube to a tube spout.
2. State of the Prior Art
Toothpaste for consumer use has long been sold in tubes requiring the user to squeeze part of the tube to extract the paste from a spout at one end of the tube. For many years, the tubes in which the toothpaste was distributed were fabricated from a malleable metal thereby permitting the user to readily extract the paste. In order to efficiently extract the maximum amount of paste from the tube, the user needed to progressively squeeze the tube from the bottom of the tube to the tube spout. As the tube was squeezed from the bottom, the metal tube could be rolled toward the tube spout, thereby effectively preventing the paste from being redistributed to the bottom of the tube should the user squeeze at a midpoint of the tube.
In recent years, the malleable metal tubes have been replaced by tubes fabricated from plastics materials. The new plastic tubes are still squeezable by the user to extract paste from the tube. However, the plastic material used in the new tubes tends to return to its original shape after it is deformed, thereby essentially making it impossible for the user to roll the bottom of the tube to prevent the paste from being redistributed thereto should the user squeeze at a midpoint of the tube.
Prior toothpaste dispensers have a body with a planar upper surface and parallel racks which mesh with pinion gears mounted on an axle journalled in sidewalls in the body. The axle also mounts a roller between the pinion gears for contact with a toothpaste tube positioned on the body upper surface and a knob for rotating the axle and roller with respect to the racks. The upper surface of the body has a device for holding the end of the toothpaste tube in a fixed position. The lower end of the body has an end plate with a centrally disposed aperture for receiving the spout of the toothpaste tube.
Many different designs of toothpaste dispensers with the above characteristics have been disclosed, and embodiments of such dispensers are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,203,473 to Willey; 2,936,006 to Henley; 2,545,324 to Choquette; 2,461,891 to Giles; 2,168,080 to Allen; 1,924,195 to Miles; and 1,352,425 to Boye. The rollers in the above-referenced inventions are typically elongated cylinders with the exception of a spherical roller disclosed in Giles '891. Each of the above-referenced dispensers includes an upper mounting bracket for attaching the dispenser to a wall. Choquette '342 additionally discloses legs extending downwardly from the body.